This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for July 30th, 2021.

The EU has passed the U.S. in Covid-19 vaccinations. Inoculations in the 27 member countries are at a sustained pace while America’s effort has stalled. The EU has boosted its figure by 9 percentage points just in the past month.

As expected, the US administration announced a number of new steps to increase vaccinations. These include requiring all federal employees and onsite contractors to be vaccinated or face strict protocols, expanding paid leave to get vaccinated, and urging states to give $100 to people who get vaccinated. They also want school districts nationwide to host at least one pop-up vaccination clinic to get more kids 12 and older vaccinated.

Israel will be the first to start offering a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine to people over 60. The President will be the first to get the booster today. The health ministry has twice reported a drop in the vaccine's efficacy against infection and a slight decrease in its protection against severe disease. Pfizer says it could apply for U.S. emergency authorization for booster shots as early as August.

One of the last holdout countries will start accepting the vaccines into its country. Burundi’s government will allow them but will not take responsibility for any side effects they might cause. This was announced the same day neighboring Tanzania launched its vaccination campaign, retreating from its former President’s denial of the pandemic. This leaves Eritrea, one of the world’s most closed-off nations, as the only African country that has not accepted the vaccines.

The smiles at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California will once again be hidden behind masks. The parks have gone back to requiring all guests to wear face masks indoors as of today and vaccination status doesn’t matter. Indoors also means transportation like buses and monorails.

In the United States cases were up 146%, deaths are up 11%, and hospitalizations are up 73% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since July 5.

There are now 5,329,011 active cases in the United States.

Keeping in mind that several states stopped reporting their daily case numbers, the five states with the most new cases: Florida 17,589. Texas 11,893. California 9,304. Georgia 4,612. And Louisiana 4,414.

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Dimmit, TX. Tangipahoa, LA. Stone, MS. Ascension, LA. Uvalde, TX. Livingston, LA. West Baton Rouge, LA. Lafourche, LA. East Feliciana, LA. And St. Mary, LA.

There have been at least 612,105 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont unchanged at 67.4%, Massachusetts at 63.7%, and Maine unchanged at 63.3%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 34.2%, Mississippi at 34.4%, and Arkansas at 36.1%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 49.3%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Vietnam up 11%. Taiwan 10%. Kosovo and Saudi Arabia 6%. And Zambia 5%.

Globally, cases were up 20% and deaths were up 7% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since June 21.

There are 14,608,402 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 92,405. India 44,673. Indonesia 43,479. Brazil 41,853. And Iran 34,433.

There have now been at least 4,196,442 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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